What Can You Do? 3 Ways to Strengthen Your Resume’s Skills Section

If you think about it, the job search is completely and totally about skills.

When it is all said and done, your boss doesn't care where you went to school, how long you were at that last job, or even what your favorite college professor thought of you. All they care about is whether or not you can do the job they hired you for.

With this much weight on your skills, it's pretty clear that your resume's skills section is important.

While many job seekers see the skills section as a somewhat forgettable list, you can get a leg up on the competition by making your skills section better than ever.

Check out these 3 ways you can strengthen your resume's skills section:

Skip the fluff

It's awesome that you think of yourself as a great communicator or a people person, but these "soft" skills aren't worth the space on your resume. Even if the job posting asks for these skills and other fluff, they're better shown off in the interview or on your social media sites than your resume.

Always be building

Unless you're a Civil War reenactment participant, your industry is constantly evolving. Methods change, tools change, and so do required skills. You might be out of school, but that's no reason to stop improving yourself.

Maybe you're not quite fluent in Spanish, maybe your dream job requires an expert in HTML… Whatever it is, target a specific skill and hone it. In the job or not, constantly be working on something new. This makes you more valuable to the company as well as their competition.

Rank it

This is the time to play favorites, in two parts. First, make a list of your skills and rank your expertise. What do you do best out of everything? What could use some improvement?

After you've made this lengthy list, figure out which of your skills are the most in-demand. This research is a lot easier than you'd think. Look at job postings, industry publications, not to mention RezScore's Skill Explorer.

After it is all said and done, you should pick out the five or so skills that you do best and are the most fitting for your industry. Not only does this make your resume (and social media profiles!) more appealing, you can rest assured that those skills represent you truthfully.

What do you think?When it comes to the skills section on your resume, what should job seekers keep in mind? Have you tried any of these techniques? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Gerrit Hall is the CEO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes - instantly. Gerrit has successfully combined his passion for computer science and the careers space by helping job seekers write the best resume possible. You ca